At the Edge of the City
by HashtagLEH
Summary: "You know, for a guy who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle." The voice came from behind him, and he turned to see Tony Stark standing in the shadows. The blue glow of the famed arc reactor in the billionaire's chest lit up his face, showing a raised eyebrow of amusement. (Or, an AU where Tony went to recruit Bruce instead of Natasha) pre-TSBB


**I was thinking a couple of days ago – "hm, I haven't done enough Bruce. I should really change that." So, here you are!**

 **I have no intention of turning this into a full-length fic, but I wanted to write my own version after reading the one by consultingwriterjim on AO3, and I thought it was fun! Hope you enjoy!**

 **…**

"Should've got paid up front, Banner," Bruce muttered disparagingly to himself as the little girl went lithely out the window at the back of the hut. Honestly, what was the point of leading him here? It was the edge of the city, and there was hardly anyone around –

Oh.

"You know, for a guy who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle."

The voice came from behind him, and he turned to see Tony Stark standing in the shadows. The blue glow of the famed arc reactor in the billionaire's chest lit up his face, showing a raised eyebrow of amusement. The man stepped forward into the normal lighting a bit more and Bruce responded.

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," he commented, eyes tracking the billionaire for sign of threat. Stark didn't look like he was armed, but his clothes didn't give off the impression that he was trying to blend in, either. He was wearing a suit that probably cost enough to feed the inhabitants of the city for a month, and his hands were in his pockets. He might have been holding onto weapons, but Bruce suspected that it was more cockiness than anything else that had him adopting the pose.

"Then what is it?" Stark countered. "Yoga?"

Bruce didn't bother deigning that question with a response. "Well, you brought me to the edge of the city – smart," he said, and went to the window, peering out to look for any sign of threat. "I, uh…assume the place is surrounded?"

"Yep," Stark said unashamedly, going to flop into the chair at the table. "I told them it wouldn't do them any good if you _did_ go big and green, but SHIELD isn't exactly known for listening to reason and logic."

Bruce tensed at his words. If the man had denied their being surrounded, he wouldn't have believed him – that was just stupidity. But it would've told him at least that he wasn't being threatened into compliance – telling him he was surrounded just told him that they were prepared to use force to get him to do…whatever they needed him to do.

Then there was the fact that it was SHIELD. They'd always been interested in him and what he could do. But he'd thought he'd lost them four countries ago.

"SHIELD," he said aloud. "How'd they find me?"

"Supposedly, they never lost you," Stark replied with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know how true that is, but they did come to me about a year and a half ago about getting General Ross off your trail. It worked, and now Ross thinks we're buddies." The slightly cold smirk showed just what he thought about that.

But why would they get Ross off him? They must want him for something without the man's interference, he supposed.

"Are you here to kill me, Mr. Stark?" Bruce said calmly, even as his hands fidgeted. He didn't want to let the Other Guy loose, and if Stark tried that… "Because that's not going to work out for anyone."

Stark actually looked offended at the suggestion. "Of course not," he huffed with a wave of his hand. "Honestly – I didn't stop weapons manufacturing that killed innocents just to go kill innocents myself in a metal costume."

Bruce raised his eyebrows in not a little bit of surprise. "I'm far from an innocent, Mr. Stark."

Stark fixed him with a serious stare. "Well, you're not guilty, either," he said, with no artifice. At Bruce's deadpanned stare, he sighed and said, "You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, fighting every second to crawl its way into my heart. This"—he tapped the glowing light on his chest—"stops it. This little circle of light…it's a part of me now. It can help power my suit, but it's not just armor. It's a terrible – privilege."

Bruce understood what he was trying to say, but he shook his head in denial. Their situations were completely different. "But _you_ can control it."

"Because I learned how," Stark countered.

Bruce shook his head again and looked toward the window. "It's different."

"Hey," Stark was suddenly in front of him again, forcing him to focus on him again. Stark's expression was serious and sincere. "I read all about your accident…" He could practically hear the quotation marks around the last word. "That much gamma exposure… _should've_ killed you."

"So you're saying that the – _Other Guy_ – saved my life?" The derision was clear in his voice, but he supposed Stark would be used to people talking to him like that when he saw that the question hadn't even fazed him. He simply looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows, confirming his assessment.

"That's nice," Bruce said with a definite note of sarcasm in his voice. "It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for – what, exactly?"

"I guess we'll find out," Stark said, still unfazed, and now he'd pulled out a phone. A moment later the holographic screen beamed up a glowing blue cube. "This is the Tesseract. Fury wants you to find it. After the whole enormous green rage monster thing, you're the leading expert on gamma radiation. Even"—he looked grudging as he admitted it—"more than me."

Bruce looked curiously at the blue cube – it looked…odd. Otherworldly, almost. "What is it?"

"An energy source," Stark answered. "Still not sure of all its capabilities yet – it was stolen before all of its properties could be identified – but it emits a gamma signature too weak for SHIELD to trace. And since you're the expert, Fury wanted you to come in."

"And if I say no?" Bruce questioned. Stark gave him a suggestive little smirk – suggestive of what, Bruce didn't want to think too hard about.

"I'll _persuade_ you," he said, and nope – Bruce didn't have to think hard about what the man meant anymore, because he'd definitely _purred_ that answer.

"And what if the _Other Guy_ says no?" This was it – this was the _real_ test, when Stark would begin his threats to keep the Other Guy at bay until he wanted to use him, when he would use any means necessary to get him to come along.

But then Stark replied, still with that same lecherous smirk, "I'll persuade _him_ , too."

"Yeah, so that you can keep me in a cage," Bruce countered. "Isn't that exactly what Fury wants?"

"No one's going to keep you in a _cage_ …" Stark said disgustedly.

"STOP LYING TO ME!" Bruce shouted, getting in the man's face, trying to get _some_ reaction out of him, because he was on unsure ground and he didn't know how to read the billionaire to figure out what his play was.

He definitely got a reaction, but it wasn't one that he expected. Rather than whipping out a weapon or calling in the cavalry, his hands snapped up, grabbing Bruce's hands in his own and intertwining their fingers.

"Hey, you alright, buddy?" Stark said, looking wholly unconcerned for his own wellbeing and instead looking like he was trying to calm him down. "You still with me, or are you about to turn into an angry green jelly bean?"

"I'm fine," Bruce said with no small amount of confusion. "I just wanted to see what you'd do."

Stark nodded like this made sense, and made no move to let go of his grip on Bruce's hands. "Well, here's my reaction." He tilted his head slightly and said, "Stand down, newbs. I'll call for you on the off chance that I need you, ya bunch of twitchy pansies." Bruce realized that he must have had an earpiece in his ear when he looked back at him and went back to the original subject like there hadn't been the interruption. "I won't lie though, it'll be cool when I finally _do_ see the Green Bean in person."

"I don't think 'cool' is the word you should be using," Bruce said, still confused about Stark's reaction and why they were still holding hands. "'Terrifying' or even 'very nervous' would be better."

Stark shrugged. "To-may-to, to-mah-to," he dismissed.

"Why would you react like… _this_ , though?" Bruce finally managed to ask, looking down at their clasped hands. Stark's eyes followed his gaze and he quirked a little smile.

"Well, it would make sense, wouldn't it?" he said with a shrug. "You start panicking, your heart rate goes up, and suddenly your pants are too small for you, and not in a good way. And if you're panicking, you don't want to grab someone in a way that's even a _little_ restrictive or threatening, 'cause that'll just make them freak out more. And holding hands always helps me when I'm panicking myself."

"I don't think most people would say that _fear_ is why the Other Guy comes out," Bruce said, raising an eyebrow, curious despite himself.

"Well, most people are idiots," Stark said frankly. "I mean, if _I_ was the green giant that was your alter ego, I'd be pretty pissed off with people trying to come after you, too. You die, he dies. He's bound to be angry with weapons pointed at him all the time when he hasn't actually _done_ anything."

"He destroyed Harlem," Bruce said pointedly.

"So he's like a toddler that doesn't know his own strength," Stark said with a shrug. "He's not a mindless killing machine – he just doesn't want to die."

Bruce was stunned. He'd never met anyone who would have this attitude for the Other Guy. _He_ didn't have this attitude for the Other Guy. Sure, he knew Stark was wrong, but it was still refreshing to have someone who wouldn't run screaming the other way when they found out what he was. Or worse, treated him with kid gloves like he would lose control if someone disagreed with him.

"Anyway," Stark switched subjects, "It would be cool for you to come help find this Tesseract thing, but even if you don't, I'm not leaving you alone until you agree to go to dinner with me."

Bruce froze in surprise and shock. " _What?_ " he got out, wondering if it was even possible to have heard incorrectly for a statement like that.

"Or breakfast – I'm not picky," Stark continued unabashedly. "And when we're done, I've gotta show you Stark Tower. Top ten floors – all R you'd love it. It's like Candyland."

"I'm not sure if…" Bruce started hesitantly, not sure how to read the situation anymore and feeling like he was floundering for a foothold.

"I'm going to be straight with you right now, is that okay?" Tony cut him off, and didn't wait for a response before he went on. "You are the first person I've met who can speak English to me that isn't old enough to be my father, and on top of that, you're giving me a science boner _and_ a traditional boner. I mean, not literally – I'm not hard right _now_ – but it could happen. So come back with me, and help Fury or don't – it's your choice. We'll eat, and we'll go talk science, and then we can see where it goes from there. Sound good to you?"

"I…um…" Bruce stammered, shocked with the proposal as well as who it was coming from, but Stark was just as sincere as he had been the whole time. That was what made the decision for him.

"Alright," he finally accepted. "I guess we'll see how this goes, then."

…

 **That seemed like a good stopping point. ;) Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!**


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